Australia Day

2017 Australia Day Award Winners Announced

South Burnett Regional Council Announces Australia Day Award Winners

The South Burnett Regional Council announced its 2017 Australia Day Award Winners at the region’s official awards ceremony held on the eve of Australia Day, Wednesday 25 January, at the Nanango State High School Hall.

The ceremony kicked off with local musician Simon Illing followed by the official opening and welcome by MC John Carey. This was followed by an address from the South Burnett Australia Day Ambassador Annabel Pike and a Citizenship Ceremony. The Australian National Anthem was sung by Sue Dowideit-Reiger and Nanango local Bruce Webb recited a bush poem which he wrote especially for the Awards Ceremony.

Mayor Keith Campbell said “Having your name put forward for one of these awards is a great honour and shows great recognition and appreciation from your local community. I hope that both our winners and our nominees are very proud of their achievements and I want to sincerely thank our community for their support.”

South Burnett Region 2017 Australia Day Award winners are as follows:-

Name

Award

Elaine Madill

South Burnett Citizen of the Year

Rebecca Clapperton

South Burnett Young Citizen of the Year

Motors in Motion

South Burnett Community Organisation

Kingaroy SES

South Burnett Community Organisation – Highly Commended

Col Sippel

South Burnett Lifetime Achievement

Fay Kerkow

South Burnett Volunteer of the Year

Andrew Maddern

South Burnett Cultural Award

Lara-Maree Boyle

South Burnett Cultural Award (Junior)

Mitch Argent

South Burnett Sportsperson of the Year

Brianna Pogany

South Burnett Junior Sportsperson of the Year

Darren Geiger

South Burnett Sportsperson (Coach/Official or Administrator)

Merle Richards

Local Achiever Award - Nanango

Jeff Connor

Local Achiever Award – Blackbutt/Benarkin

Gary Barron

Local Achiever Award - Kingaroy

Desiree Crawford

Local Achiever Award - Kumbia

Cliff Seiler

Local Achiever Award - Wooroolin

Greg Day

Local Achiever Award – Wondai/Tingoora

Noela Ardrey

Local Achiever Award – Proston/Hivesville

Trevor Otto

Local Achiever Award – Murgon

Region Secures Australia Day Ambassador

South Burnett Regional Council is delighted to announce Ms Annabel Pike as its 2017 Australia Day Ambassador. Annabel will be participating in Council's regional Australia Day Awards Ceremony to be held at the Nanango State High School Hall on Wednesday night, 25th January 2017.

Annabel suffers from a profound, bilateral, sensory neural hearing loss. Focussing her efforts on academia in high school, Annabel perused her lifelong dream of becoming a nurse. Gaining early acceptance into the Australian Catholic University (ACU) through their inaugural ‘Early Achievers Program’, Annabel overcame hearing difficulties and in 2011 graduated with Honours and the Sovereign of Military Order of MALTA for Excellence in Palliative Care. In 2012, she was offered a place in the highly coveted Mater Health Service Graduate Program.

In 2013, Annabel was the sole recipient of the Australian Graduation Nurse of the Year. Annabel was also awarded The Pride of Australia Medal for Care and Compassion in 2013 and an Australian of the Year nomination in 2014 and 2015.

In 2015 and 2016, Annabel was honoured to be an Australia Day Ambassador and accepted nominations for the Young Alumnus of the Year in the ACU Alumni Awards and HESTA Australian Nursing Awards (for the third time in three years). Most recently, Annabel was one of four finalists for Queensland Young Achiever of the Year, and Clinical Supervisor of the Year, 2016.

In October 2014 and June 2015, Annabel travelled to Cambodia to volunteer in a rural hospital as a nurse educator and mentor, winning the hearts of the local nurses and community. In 2015, Annabel was the nursing feature in the ABC TV series, “Keeping Australia Alive.”

Currently studying postgraduate coursework, working in Oncology and Palliative Care, and facilitating nursing students in one of Australia’s leading Universities for nurses, Annabel hopes her care and advocacy for patients can be an inspiration to novice practitioners.

South Burnett Regional Council Mayor, Keith Campbell, encourages residents to come along and meet Annabel at the South Burnett Awards Ceremony, which starts at 6.30pm on the evening of 25th January. "It is not often that accomplished Australians of her stature visit our region and I urge our residents to take advantage of this fantastic opportunity," he said.

The Australia Day Ambassador program is proudly sponsored by Woolworths.

Australia Day Events Across the Region

Comments & Suggestions?

Your feedback is valuable to us. If you have any comments or suggestions to help council improve it's approach to celebrating Australia Day, please contact the Mayor's Office on (07) 4189 9155.

Previous South Burnett Australia Day Award Winners

Want to step back in time? Access previous South Burnett Australia Day Award Winners below:-